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A “supermoon” rose above cities from Los Angeles to London on Saturday night, the first of three times this year the full moon will orbit nearer the earth and appear unusually large and bright.

The supermoon is technically known as a “perigee moon,” and occurs when the moon is full as it reaches perigee, the point of its orbit closest to the earth, The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) said in a statement. It looks largest when it’s closest to the horizon – an optical illusion.

“However, if it gets people out and looking at the night sky and maybe hooks them into astronomy, then it’s a good thing,” Geoff Chester of the US Naval Observatory, said on NASA’s website.

A 2013 supermoon was 14 percent bigger and 30 percent more luminous than the average full moon of that year, NASA said.

Two additional supermoons are expected in 2014, one on Aug. 10 and another on Sept. 9, NASA said. August’s supermoon is expected to be the most remarkable of the year. — Reuters

Since 1994, Hampden’s Honfest has been celebrating the archetypal Baltimore hon. Women — and even some men — have flocked to 36th Street (if you’re a local, you know it as the Avenue) for the sole purpose of winning the title of Baltimore’s Best Hon.

Authorities said 22-year-old Elliot Rodger stabbed three people to death at his apartment building in Isla Vista, Calif.; opened fire on women standing outside a sorority, killing two; and then fatally shot someone at a nearby deli. After a gun battle with deputies, he was found dead in his BMW with what officials believe was a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Austrian drag queen Conchita Wurst, popularly known as “the bearded lady,” won the Eurovision Song Contest on Saturday with the James Bond-theme-like ballad “Rise Like a Phoenix”, before a global TV audience of about 180 million people in 45 countries.

Ukraine’s parliament voted on Saturday to remove President Viktor Yanukovich, who abandoned his Kiev office to protesters and denounced what he described as a coup after a week of fighting in the streets of the capital.
Parliament also freed his arch-nemesis, former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko, who walked free from the hospital where she had been jailed, completing a radical transformation in the former Soviet republic of 46 million people.

Washington’s John Wall was declared the winner in fan voting Saturday night at the Smoothie King Center … even though he didn’t get a chance to compete against fellow champions Paul George and Terrence Ross.

Area gearheads can pore over hundreds of cars of every size, shape and sticker price at the annual showcase this weekend. Runs through Sunday at the Baltimore Convention Center, 1 W. Pratt St. Hours are 10 a.m.-10 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are $5-$12, with kids 6 and under admitted free today and Saturday, and kids 12 and under admitted free Sunday. Information: motortrendautoshows.com/baltimore.

Indonesia’s Mount Sinabung volcano erupted and killed more than a dozen people on the western island of Sumatra on Saturday, the first time it is known to have claimed any lives, a senior government official said. Editors note: Some photos contain graphic content.

Participants in the 13th annual International “No Pants Subway Ride” were out in force Sunday in more than 60 cities across the globe. Started in 2002 with only seven participants, the idea behind “No Pants” is that random passengers board a subway car at separate stops in the middle of winter, without wearing trousers. The participants wear all of the usual winter clothing on their top half such as hats, scarves and gloves and do not acknowledge each other’s similar state of undress.

The Green Bay Packers will host the San Francisco 49ers in the first round of the NFL playoffs on Sunday. At kickoff, the temperature at Lambeau Field is forecast to be one degree Fahrenheit, and the wind chill will make it feel like minus-17 degrees, according to The Weather Channel.